Foreign Investments Doubled in First Half

THE HAGUE, 01/10/13 - Active lobbying by the government yielded 826 million euros of investments in the Dutch economy in the first half of the year. Together, these investments will create 4,332 extra jobs, Economic Affairs Minister Henk Kamp announced Monday.

These foreign investments are more than double those of the first half of 2012. That period yielded investments of 378 million euros and 1,973 new jobs, said Kamp, who presented the new figures in Utrecht at the opening of Nutricia Research, part of the French company Danone.

"The new global research centre of Danone will offer work to a minimum of 400 people and has based itself in Utrecht among other reasons thanks to the lobbying of the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA)," the minister declared. Danone is to work on the development of medical and baby food in the research centre.

Kamp: "We have much innovation knowledge in the Netherlands, this is decisive for companies like Danone. Twelve of the world’s greatest agri-food companies have a research centre in the Netherlands. And the University of Wageningen is well-known worldwide for its research in food.”

As well as the NFIA, the University of Utrecht, the province and the municipality of Utrecht worked for the location of Danone in the Science Park. The French company acquired the Dutch company Numico, of which Nutricia is part, in 2007.